


Like A River Washing Over Me

by i_amthecosmos



Series: The Small Town Series [2]
Category: One Direction
Genre: 80's AU, Fighting, Homophobic Slurs, M/M, small town AU, talk of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 00:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4586055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_amthecosmos/pseuds/i_amthecosmos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis and Liam have a fight over Louis' recklessness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like A River Washing Over Me

**Author's Note:**

> A few months in the future sequel to When You Walked In, I wrote this because the characters wouldn't leave me alone. Also the Louis in this is very angry and I wanted to explore that. Thanks for reading.

Louis poured himself a drink in stubborn silence. He put the glass to his lips and swallowed the whiskey neat. Liam could see the markings of a black eye starting to show. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. 

“I do,” Liam said, and Louis flinched. “That guy probably was twice your weight, and he was mad, yelling at us like that. You didn’t know him, he could have had a knife…”

“Enough!” Louis slammed the glass down. Liam watched the whiskey slosh over the side, making a small pool on the bar in their apartment. Liam had moved in with Louis soon after he agreed to stay in this town for good. Right now, he was beginning to regret how fast he did it. 

“You can’t fight everyone, Louis. If I hadn’t helped out there’s no telling what could have happened to you.” Liam had been at the counter at the liquor store (which Louis called a ‘package store’ for some reason) when Louis had snapped at someone in line behind them. The next thing he knew, the other guy had dragged Louis outside, Louis screeching and putting up a fight all the way. Liam had run out and scared the bastard off. Their trip out for a bottle of whiskey ended with Louis nursing a sore eye and Liam enraged and frightened. Worse, Louis refused to apologize for talking back.

“I don’t care,” Louis said, and Liam gaped at him. He couldn’t believe it, Louis had to be joking. “I don’t, I might feel bad after, but at the time? If someone’s calling me a worthless faggot, I’m going to take the nearest fucking object and throw it at their head. I don’t care, I don’t care if I die, go to jail, or what. But I won’t put up with being treated like that.” 

Liam stared at Louis for a second, and Louis took another drink. “I care,” is what he said, his voice soft and weak-sounding. He felt helpless, like he didn’t have a hope of Louis listening to him. “I care what happens to you. I don’t want you in jail, or dead, and that’s what’s going to happen one day. I can’t be with you every time.” 

“Well I don’t need you!” Louis turned to face Liam, his face clenched in rage. “I don’t need you to rescue me, I don’t need anyone to, you’re a coward, even though you were a Marine, you never stand up for yourself, you just those bastards get away with everything…”

“That’s not bloody true! I just don’t hit them.” He used his size and muscles to get others to shut up, he knew that, and he also knew they couldn’t call the cops for that. He was using his control now, not to walk out the door because Louis was hurting him. “Lou, it’s not the same for you…”

“You’re right, it’s not. You can pass for straight, I can’t. I had to defend myself since I was ten, you flew right under the fucking radar until the Marines kicked you out.” Liam flinched at that-losing the good thing he’d had in the Marines was still a sore spot. “You can act like everyone else, and nobody comments except for the accent. But then they see you with me, and they think I’m some fairy that corrupted this nice straight boy.” 

“We both know that’s not true,” Liam said, trying to sound patient. “So why should it care what other people think? You know, you really sold me on staying here, how the gay people in this area had made it a good place, but you seem determined to make things worse for yourself. Don’t you know how to pick a battle?” 

“No I don’t! I don’t know how, because any one of those fuckers could want to kill me and I don’t know which!” Louis took a break for a minute to breathe. Then he had another sip, gathering up his wits, and then glared at Liam. “You wanted to live here. Yeah, I gave you the hard sell, but you wanted a new place to belong after losing the last one. Don’t deny it.” 

“That may be true,” Liam said. “But that’s not the point right now. The point is that I want to keep my new lover alive long enough for us to have a good relationship.” Louis glared at him, and Liam said “And you’re right, maybe you don’t need me to rescue you, but I’m still going to do it. Because I care about you.”

“You do now,” Louis said, and Liam could see the fight start to ebb out of him. Liam dared to come closer, moving into Louis’ space. He picked up Louis’ drink and took a sip, coughing from the burn of alcohol. “You’ll get sick of me soon enough. Most people do.” 

“I don’t think I will,” Liam said, keeping his voice gentle as he moved in. He got his arms around Louis and he struggled briefly, but Liam just tightened his grip, holding his boyfriend to him. “It’s all right Lou. I know it’s scary, to be called out like that all the time. But at least, know I’m here with you when it happens?”

“You just said you couldn’t always be there,” Louis grumbled into his shirt. Louis didn’t try to push him away, but he wasn’t really hugging back either. “I’m angry, all the time. I need to be, so if someone tries for me I can use that to knock the shit out of them. But sometimes…I can’t shut it off.” 

“Shh, we’ll find a way,” Liam said, and he kissed Louis’ forehead. Louis relaxed into Liam’s embrace little by little, until Louis had his arms around Liam’s neck, his eyes closed and his head hanging down. “I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you, Lou,” Liam said and Louis sniffled in response. 

“You’d find someone to replace me, probably,” Louis said and Liam didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead he just kissed Louis again, this time on his cheek. He could taste the salt from the tears.“I don’t think I’ve really mattered to anyone except my family.” 

“Well you’re wrong. You matter to me, and you matter to your friends. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re like a community leader. You’ve even gotten some of your straight little old lady customers to stop thinking that you’re damned for hell. That took a lot of convincing.” 

“No that’s them. I didn’t do anything but be myself, they changed their own minds once they saw that,” Louis said. Liam rubbed Lou’s back and he sighed. “I think I want a bath. And maybe some ice for my eye.” Liam let go and Louis rubbed his head. 

“Go start the bath, I’ll get you some ice. I’d get you a steak if we had one.” Louis smiled faintly at that, and headed back to the bathroom. Liam heard the water start a few seconds later. Before he went to join Louis though, he sat down at the breakfast bar for a minute. He let himself cry, his hands covering his face, knowing that Louis couldn’t hear him over the water. All the fear and anger he’d been holding in ever since Louis had been dragged out of the store was coming out now, and he was powerless to stop it. 

After a few minutes, the tears dried up. Liam wiped his face and went to fill up the ice pack. He went to find Louis in the tub, sunk down so his chin was touching the water. “There you are,” Louis said, and he sat back up, holding his hands out. “Ice pack please, I’m going to look horrible tomorrow. I need to come up with a cover story to tell my customers. Those nice old ladies don’t want to hear about me getting into a fight.”

“Tell them you were styling your hair and you accidently hit yourself in the eye with a curling iron.” Liam was glad his voice wasn’t shaking from the tears. The joke got him a chuckle and then Louis pressed the ice pack to his eye. “I wish that hadn’t happened, but I’m glad that’s all there is.” He tried not to think about what would happen next time.

“I know, me too,” Louis said, his voice soft. “I feel so tired, after. Like, I throw myself into the fight with everything I have, and when it’s over, it’s like there isn’t much left. And then I have to rebuild, so I can go into work tomorrow and play the happy flaming gay hairdresser, and my clients will love it. And then I’ll be tired again.” 

“I know. It’s hard to live up to others expectations. At least yourself at work is based on the real you. My Marine self involved a lot more hiding.” Liam liked working for Bob at the construction sites. A lot of the other guys were gay, and it was more relaxed than anywhere else he’d worked, not that he had a lot to compare to.

“I guess. But it’s a game too. I have to play a role. Then they probably go home and talk about me.” Louis frowned, and Liam figured that was enough. He stripped down, and Louis moved the ice pack so he could look. “Are you coming in?”

“Yes. Scoot over.” Louis moved so Liam could get settled behind him, and then he leaned back into Liam’s arms. “There,” Liam said. “You’re not going to push me away now, I bet.” He ran a hand down Lou’s side, and he could see Louis’ smile out of the corner of his eye.

“No. I’m sorry about that. Thank you for not just walking out the door.” Liam kissed his shoulder and Louis said “No, really. It’s happened before.”

“I couldn’t,” was all Liam could think to say to explain why. But it was true, he would stay with Louis until he couldn’t anymore, he would love Lou with everything he had. Damn everything else, Louis had given him a home when he needed it, offered up his life and his family and his friends. Liam could take the occasional bad fights based on Louis’ reckless behavior, because so much else came with it.

“You haven’t been with me long, you could change your mind.” And while Liam had to agree to that in theory, he couldn’t imagine himself packing up and leaving in practice. He dropped a hand down to Louis’ stomach, brushing over the wet skin as Louis held the pack to his eye. 

“It’s not going to happen. You wanted me to be yours, and now I am. You wanted me to love you, and I do. I love you even when you scare me, Louis.” Louis moved the ice pack from his eye and dropped it over the side of the tub. Liam heard it hit the floor.

“You haven’t really said it before.” Louis turned back to look at him and Liam shrugged. Louis shrugged back, smiling, and laid back, cuddled in Liam’s arms.

 

They sat in the bath for a while, until the water cooled, and then Louis let the water out and stood up. Liam watched him for a minute, always liking the way Louis’ slim body moved. Eventually, they got dried off and Liam tidied up the front of the apartment while Louis got ready for bed. Liam put the liquor up, thinking about how they had only wanted to have a couple of drinks and watch TV. That’s not how the night ended up going, but at least things were okay for now. 

When Liam came to bed, Louis was already there. He was turned over on his side, so Liam figured he wasn’t in the mood for much more than sleep. “Hey,” he said quietly, to see if Louis was already out.

“Hey,” Louis said, and he turned back to face him. “I’m kind of tired, sorry. We can fool around tomorrow. I might try getting out early. The owner’s my cousin, so it might happen.”

“No wonder you like it here, you’re related to half the people,” Liam said and Louis laughed and kissed his bicep. “I probably will not be getting out early. Working on the new courthouse a town over.” Liam had grown to love his work as a construction worker, and he was seriously considering learning electrician work at the community college. But he had only been here a few months, maybe he was rushing things.

“I don’t mind what time you come home. Maybe I’ll fix dinner for you tomorrow.” Liam raised an eyebrow and Louis giggled. “No, mom gave me some recipes, I think I can cook dinner without making a mess. It should be fine. You need a reward for what I put you through.”

“You’re the one who needs a reward,” Liam said, brushing his finger under Lou’s sore eye. Louis flinched. “Sorry, sorry. Anyway, maybe I should bring dinner from a restaurant or something.” 

“We’ll worry about it tomorrow,” Louis said. “I’ll call you from work around lunchtime. I need to sleep now.” Louis got back in his favorite sleeping position and Liam though about how peaceful they were now, after the fight. Liam rubbed a hand over Louis’ back and he said “Not now Liam. Sleep.” 

“Okay,” he said, and he turned on his side too, facing Louis but not touching him. He watched Louis’ body move with his breathes, and eventually, he was asleep as well.


End file.
